2 x 1-year old Bradford White water heaters leaking from bottom (Photos)

[Reach4]

Get a garden hose thread pressure gauge. Turn off the WHs, or move to vacation. Monitor the water pressure.

You can get one with a tattletale/lazy hand to record the peak. Now that hand going up is not for sure that your water pressure went that high. Vibration can make that hand move.

Watts 3/4 in. Plastic Water Pressure Test Gauge DP IWTG - The Home Depot

When you choose this hose connection gauge, you can rest assured that you're getting a quality product to test water supply pressures within a distribution system. Its red indicator hand holds at the highest reading registered for detection of thermal expansion pressure surges. Rubber garden...

www.homedepot.com

If you want, you can take a movie of the pressure gauge with your cellphone.

Gauge can go on hose spigot, laundry tap, or the drain on a water heater.

It seems unfair to try to get plumbers to come out for free to tell you that you don't need a PRV, but only a thermal expansion tank.

 

[Tuttles Revenge]

Also, he is really screwing you pretty good and deep on the pressure reducing valve... considering they cost only about 75 bucks for a 3/4 wilkins ... It will probably take about 30 minutes to install the PRV valve so he hopes you go for the 1000k he quoted you

I never second guess what a company in a completely different market needs to charge in order to be profitable. Perhaps there are factors that are driving that cost on site that we are not aware of.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Tuttles Revenge]

I don't think the PRV is necessarily out of line. There is more to any project than simply the wholesale cost of parts. Plumbing businesses are in business to make a profit, not just give away PRV's.. I don't know what the market rate is in any area but my own, so I can't form an informed opinion on the cost, but I used to flat rate PRV installations at $750 in 2012 when I was doing service work.. So $1k isn't out of line in my opinion.

 

[BBdude]

Hi All - Thanks for the continued feedback. I'm going to stick with the current plumber and have him remediate with a expansion tank.

One thing that keeps me thinking is why ONLY ONE of my tanks t and p keep dripping, when they're setup in parallel. Reading some more on the water tanks it says when they're in parallel the piping must be EQUAL in length. I measured and the cold water lines are not EQUAL, but 3" offset towards the tank on the right (the one w/out a t and p issue). Hot water lines are equal.

Is this something worth exploring or isn't really critical overall? I guess given the issues I've had with this outfit so far, my primary concern is my other hot water tank may just be sitting there and not being used. That said, we're a family of 6 and even with company over we have never ran out of hot water.

 

[Reach4]

There is going to be some T&P valve-to-valve variation. One is likely to start releasing water at a little lower pressure. Pressures equalize, even if flow does not equalize.

 

[Tuttles Revenge]

s this something worth exploring or isn't really critical overall? I guess given the issues I've had with this outfit so far, my primary concern is my other hot water tank may just be sitting there and not being used. That said, we're a family of 6 and even with company over we have never ran out of hot water.

Tanks installed in parallel need equal lengths of pipe in order to balance the load of the work that they perform. Water taking the path of least resistance is going to flow predominately to the tank with the shortest run. But as others have pointed out on these forums in the past, water will still flow through the other tank. At what percentage, I do not know. But the flow is not the cause of the T&P failure as Reach4 pointed out, its set to trip at a specific pressure and pressure is constant across your plumbing system. They are a mechanical device and one of them had a slightly weaker spring than the other one.

 

[Reach4]

You may be able to partially closed the input valve to one tank to tune the flows.

 

[BBdude]

Day 1 post 4.4 gal expansion tank and no water from T and P

 

[Tuttles Revenge]

Doing its job protecting your water heaters. The real test is heating the tank from fully cold to hot.

 

[Jeff H Young]

I don't like to be to negative on pricing of other contractors but our work isn't cheap. I wouldn't want to have to pay a grand for a regulator or 500 bucks to put brakes on car or a couple thousand to have a tooth pulled.
Cant say I disagree with cost of a 3/4 PRV but my house is 1-1/2 PRV and its a 2 and a half bath home. Contractors in some states probably work for less than our wages here. that said a grand doesn't sound like he is giving it away at a discount .

 

[BBdude]

I've had a few days now and one or two where we've got 6 people taking baths/showers. No issues so far. Did put a slip of paper at the end of the t and p to monitor when I'm not down there - still dry! Can't thank you enough for everyone's input and help!

Only issue I have left now is the pipes shake when I turn on the hot water for second floor bathtub. As soon as I pull the level to turn on the shower, it immediately stops. Interesting! We've had this issue for ages.

I don't like to be to negative on pricing of other contractors but our work isn't cheap. I wouldn't want to have to pay a grand for a regulator or 500 bucks to put brakes on car or a couple thousand to have a tooth pulled.
Cant say I disagree with cost of a 3/4 PRV but my house is 1-1/2 PRV and its a 2 and a half bath home. Contractors in some states probably work for less than our wages here. that said a grand doesn't sound like he is giving it away at a discount .

The guy I've been dealing with does seem like a stand up guy so I'm inclined to trust him. However, I paid $500 for a 4.4 gallon expansion tank (~$100) and it couldn't have taken him more than 30 minutes